Friday, January 23, 2009

Martha Stewart's Zucchini and Cranberry Muffins

The other morning, in my sleep deprived, inaugural euphoria, I pulled out Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbookand flipped through a few pages. Since I only had about an hour before I had to leave for work, I skipped the twelve-tier cake and yeast breads...and went directly for the muffins and quick breads.

There it was! Cranberry-Zucchini Muffins on page 37! I have some cranberries in the freezer and a few zucchini in the refrig! Score!

By the way, if you don’t have Martha’s book in your collection, you should really consider adding it. The photos are great and Martha’s crazy OCD attention to details makes for good instructions.

I baked them at 375 for 25-30 minutes, and I got 11 muffins (Martha says you should get 10). I always tip my muffins shortly after they come out of the oven so the bottoms don't get soggy.

Finally, these are muffins.M-U-F-F-I-N-S.No, not little cakes pretending to be muffins that you can find at Starbucks and Costco.These are light and a bit tangy with the cranberries. And I must admit...if they were mini-muffins I could probably polish off ten of them. Or, perhaps a cool dozen!

Do you have some frozen cranberries stashed in your freezer? You should try this recipe! (hint, hint Mary Ann! :)

I know what you mean about soggy bottoms. I usually cool for 5 minutes before removing. Any longer and the whole thing feels kinda soggy. These muffins look amazing. I love the flecks of gree and cranberries inside!

These look and sound awesome. I have some cranberries patiently waiting in my freezer right now. In reference to Monica. I made a Lemon/Yogurt cake with blueberries and it came out beautiful and almost creamy moist. When I made the same recipe with dried cranberries it did not have the same wonderful texture and was almost a bit dry. I think with the fruit absorbing the moisture to rehydrate and not adding any of it's own might have been the problem. Keep that in mind ...maybe adding a bit extra moisture to the recipe.

Oh, darn! On Thursday I was searching for an oil-based cranberry muffin recipe, and wasn't really finding anything. I baked something else instead and now my cranberries are gone. I'm bookmarking the recipe anyway. They look great (and I don't like cakey muffins either)Nancy

I made these today and am posting the muffins now. I'm linking back to you. Thanks for this recipe - I liked these a lot; beautiful colors and flavors, and great texture, but I'll cut the sugar by just a bit next time. Nancy